to find my own
by shiksa goddess
Summary: "I remember once, someone asked me if it was hard to be in love with her because I'm a celebrity or whatever and she's not. It's not. It has never been hard to be in love with her. It's the thing I'm best at, actually." / in which Austin Moon is a superstar (sort of) but Ally Dawson is still his star. non-linear. For Sophie :')


**title: to find my own  
>playlist: chasing cars- snow patrol; wherever you are- 5 seconds of summer; hannah hunt- vampire weekend; baby blue eyes- a rocket to the moon; where we belong- thriving ivory; favorite girl- the icarus account<br>warnings: um ally deals with some disorders but they're really not discussed in detail in my attempt to keep it non-offensive but still yeah that's there  
>an: THIS IS FOR MY INTERNET BESTIE AND JUST ALL-AROUND GOOD FRIEND SOPHIE'S (a cold day in december) 16TH BIRTHDAY BC SHE IS GREAT AND I AM LATE I'M A TERRIBLE FRIEND BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE IT ANYWAYS AND I LOVE YOU AND I HOPE YOU GET TO DRIVE A TRACTOR THIS YEAR :') (among other wishes that i hope come true yay!)**

**also general note sorry for the kinda weird formatting but i really really like writing stories like this so i hope the non-linear-ness makes at least some semblance of sense**

* * *

><p>Day 296.<p>

Things are different when she's around.

They're burrowed into the crevice between the hotel couch and the wall, hiding from any place that could potentially be photographed from the door, the window, anywhere that anyone else could see them, really.  
>People are still banging on the door and shouting up at the second-story window, but Austin can hear the hotel's security guards yelling at the hoards of fans to "go home or get a life or get drunk, I don't care, just get off this property", so he figures the problem will be resolved soon.<p>

Temporarily, at least.

"Doesn't it ever get exhausting? Getting followed all the time, people constantly banging at your doors?" Ally questions, biting into one of the chocolate-covered strawberries they'd ordered from room service before fans found out what hotel he was staying at.

"Well, I mean, yes and no. I knew I was signing up for this lifestyle the minute I signed that recording contract, but all things considered, it's really not that bad. I could be in a homeless shelter. I could be stuck in a dead-end job for the rest of my life never knowing it felt like to pursue my dreams. I'd rather be followed into every public restroom I ever enter for the rest of my life than be like _that._" He pops a strawberry in his mouth. "You pick your battles."

Ally nods quietly.

"I mean, doesn't it ever get exhausting being my girlfriend? Like, I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time I've made you hide behind random objects just so we could have some privacy." He smiles, but the reality behind it terrifies him.

It wasn't like Ally couldn't find someone else, some other guy who was charming and charismatic and not high-maintenance, maybe this guy was smarter than he was, maybe he read big, thick books like Ally did, maybe he read classic literature and wrote poems, maybe he would write Ally poems, and maybe he could take Ally out to her favorite cafe on her birthday without being mobbed by flashbulbs and getting himself into trouble and maybe-

His thoughts are interrupted by Ally placing her delicate hand over his and interlocking their fingers. He can faintly feel the steady ba-dum ba-dum of her pulse through the thin skin of her wrist and he grips her hand tighter because she is here, she is real, she is alive.

"Is it exhausting? Yes." She laughs.

"But is it worth it? Also yes."  
>The room is silent now except for the sounds of her inhaling and exhaling, and he can't tell if it's because security finally cleared the mobs out or because his focus has shifted to where it doesn't matter if there were one-hundred people out there, or if there were none.<br>She, Ally Dawson, is what matters.

* * *

><p>Day 1.<p>

The first time he meets Ally Dawson is when she's sitting in the front row of his first acoustic show. It's a Miami Beach performance, and being able to look out at the place where he grew up makes him feel better about standing in front of a thousand people with just himself and a guitar.

"Hey guys, I'm Austin Moon, thanks for coming out!" He yells, and as he waits for the cheering to die down, he scans the audience before seeing her.

There is a girl in the front row with curled brown hair sitting next to another girl with curly black hair and she is screaming his name and he is infatuated with her immediately.

He runs his hands through his disheveled blonde hair and clears his throat into the microphone.  
>"This one is for the pretty brunette girl in the front row. What's your name?"<p>

The girl stares up at him in shock and panic, pointing at herself as if to say "Me?" Austin nods.

"Yeah, you, right there!" He points at her,

She looks at her friend, her eyes desperately pleading for help. Austin mentally slaps himself because _fuck did he just fuck this up already?_  
>Her friend laughs and turns towards the stage and yells "Ally! Her name is Ally!"<p>

Ally is still staring, wide-eyed, at the stage.

"Ally." He smiles subconsciously as her name rolls off his tongue. "Okay. This one is for Ally."

She's still staring in shock, but she's smiling at him, so he decides that there's still hope for them yet.

* * *

><p>Day 56.<p>

They've only been dating for nearly two months when her face is plastered on the cover of a tabloid, complete with the headline "_Is Austin Moon's New Flame A Fame Whore?"  
><em>He notices it first, the glossy copies shelved neatly on the top shelf of the magazine rack and he tries to turn her away from seeing it but he hears her gasp and sees her go pale before he can.

She frantically grabs one and flips through the pages to find the article.

"How did they get these?" She questions, eyeing the paparazzi candids of them that she hadn't previously been aware existed. "Why do they care about me? About us?"

Austin wraps an arm around her shoulders and presses a kiss to her forehead, holding her as close to him as was humanly possible. He didn't think he'd ever felt so terrible in his entire life, not even when he was five and he'd accidentally tripped his cousin and made her break her wrist, not when he'd been rejected by twenty different record labels before signing with Jimmy Starr, not when magazine covers had been plastered with his own face, claiming that he was an untalented, arrogant asshole rich kid who bought his way into the entertainment business. Never.

He knew he couldn't be there to protect her 24/7- not from street thugs, not from paparazzi, not even from himself, but that didn't mean he could willingly accept it. And seeing the devastation on her face, he felt like he'd failed her.

He'd known all along that this kind of thing was inevitable when he was who he was.  
>But she didn't deserve this.<p>

When he takes her back to her house that afternoon, they sit in her driveway for a minute silently. She makes no move to get out of the car.

"I'd understand if you don't want to do this anymore."

Ally looks at him as if he's insane. "Do what? Be with you?"

Austin says nothing, just stares ahead at the white door of her garage.

"Do you really think I'd give up being with the most amazing person I've ever met just because some so-called journalists had nothing else better to do with themselves besides call me a fame whore?"

Austin still keeps his eyes trained on the garage door.

"Do you think I'd give up on you that easily?"  
>She speaks quietly now, her voice so soft he can hardly hear her.<p>

He turns to look at her. For the first time in his two months of knowing her, she does not resemble a beautiful porcelain doll that he constantly has to watch out for and take gentle care of to make sure she doesn't break, but instead she looks like a woman, one whose flesh was soft and warm and not fragile. Ally Dawson was not fragile. She was strong, she was beautiful, she was constantly afraid, but she was not fragile.

"Because I wouldn't." She grabs his hand. "I love you way too much to do that."

Beautiful, strong, terrified Ally Dawson.

He leans over the gearshift and kisses her.  
>She's never said that to him before- not directly at least- and once she does, he is so consumed with contentment and affection for her that he doesn't even feel like he is in control of himself anymore.<p>

When they pull away, Ally laughs. Austin looks at her in terror, checking to see if he screwed up somehow. It wouldn't be the first time.

"What?"

"Do you think there's any paparazzi watching us right now?"

He peers around outside the car windows subconsciously. "I don't know, but I have tinted windows for a reason."

Ally raises an eyebrow. "Really? So does that mean we can do that again?"

He nods.

* * *

><p>Day 240.<p>

"Austin, I think you're smudging my makeup."

He removes his hands from her eyes. "Okay. You can open your eyes now."

Ally blinks, her eyelashes stuck together for a moment due to her mascara, and looks up at the flashing red marquee of her favorite cafe.

Her eyes light up, then quickly dim.  
>"Austin, you know they're going to find you-"<p>

He puts a finger to her lips. "Shh. No, they won't. I made sure of it. Tonight, I am not Austin Moon, pop star, I am Austin Moon, greatest boyfriend alive, who is going to have a nice, quiet dinner with my beautiful girlfriend on her twentieth birthday at her favorite cafe."

They sit down at a table near the window, something that obviously makes Ally uneasy as she's bobbing her leg up and down and constantly checking outside the window for paparazzi.

"Hey, Alls, it's okay!" He reassures her, and she nods, but her leg is still shaking up and down.

Austin looks at her with worry. "Do you want me to take you home?"

Ally shakes her head. "No, no, don't. I'm sorry. I know you really want to do this for me and that you've put a lot of effort into this, but I'm just so paranoid that something's going to go wrong and-"

She pauses, takes a deep breath, and shakes her head again. "You know what? I need to stop. It is my birthday, I am at my favorite restaurant, with my favorite person, and we're going to have the best time." She smiles at him, a genuine smile, and it makes the world spin just a little bit faster.

Halfway through their meal, Austin hears the familiar sound of camera shutters and he panics.

"Damn it!" He whisper-yells, and Ally looks up at him, eyebrow raised in question.  
>Then she sees the mob of cameras and flash bulbs coming at them and her eyes widen.<p>

Austin grabs her arm. "Ally, go, hide behind the bookshelf or something, I'll try to take care of them."

The manager of the cafe looks at him with disdain and he sighs. "I'm so sorry, ma'am, I was told that they wouldn't be here tonight."

He locks the door to the cafe, shuts the blinds, and dials Jimmy.  
>"Jimmy! You told me you'd keep them off my back for tonight!"<p>

"I did!"

Austin scoffs. "Oh, yeah, really? Because the fifteen people hounding the cafe with large cameras and shiny flashbulbs would say otherwise!"

He hears Jimmy sigh. "Jesus Christ, man, I'm sorry! I tried my best, I really did, I can't believe they would do this. Damn it!" Jimmy exclaims.

"You know what, it's fine. I'll deal with them." Austin ends the call and looks over at Ally, who is half-hidden behind the counter making small talk with the cafe manager. She catches him glancing and looks back at him with a sheepish smile, panic still evident in her eyes.

The paparazzi are still pounding on the door, the window, taking pictures through small crevices in the blinds and Austin shakes his head, wondering just how _desperate _they have to be to do this kind of crap.

Without thinking it through (which is generally how he made all of his decisions), he flipped the lock on the door and pretends he doesn't notice Ally staring at him as if he's insane.

He walks outside, pulling the door firmly shut behind him so no one goes inside and hounds Ally. Flashes are still going off in his eyes, but he hardly even notices anymore. His emotions have gone from worry to determination to him being absolutely and completely _livid. _

"Hey!" He yells. The flashbulbs continue, and now some random passersby have joined the bunch, pulling out their phones and snapping pictures and videos.

"You guys know I try not to care too much when you take pictures of me, when you say bad things about me, none of that, right? I understand that it's what people do. I probably deserve it."

He points back at the cafe. "But her- my girlfriend, Ally Dawson, remember her? The one you all sold pictures of and called a 'fame-whore'- which, by the way, is literally the dumbest and most inaccurate statement I have ever seen in my entire life- she does _not _deserve it. She does not deserve to be insulted, or photographed when she doesn't want it. She is always nice to everyone, including all of you- did you know she has anxiety? And panic disorder? Do you know how many panic attacks she has had within the last seven months that she's been dating me? Do you know how _horrible _I feel every time I see panic in her eyes because God knows, I know, that she could be so much better off without me? Do you know how many times she's been forced to face her claustrophobia because she has to hide from you guys? I don't deserve Ally, okay, and I know that, but I would like to hold onto her for as long as possible and your interference doesn't help. So please, for God's sake, _please _just let us have this one birthday dinner without anymore interruption."

He's trying to be calm, and rational, like Ally would want him to be, but he can feel his pulse racing.

The door to the cafe creaks open and he sees Ally walk out, her eyes shielded with sunglasses in case of the flashes. She smiles and waves at the cameras politely, but hurries over to Austin and grabs his hand.

"We should go now." She whispers. "Jimmy ordered a car, it's around back, we can get yours back tomorrow."

"Hey, Austin! Your girlfriend's a bitch!" Someone yells. It's a teenage boy recording Austin with his iPhone, with a blonde girl hanging off his arm.

He can't see anything except Ally and red and how much he instantaneously hates this guy.

"_Fuck you!" _Austin yells, running towards the guy and swinging at his head, but he feels Ally's hands wrap around his waist trying to hold him back.

"Austin! Austin!" She screams, and he feels her voice bringing him back down to Earth. "Austin, it's not worth it! Don't hurt him!"

The guy is looking at Austin with a slight smirk on his face but fear in his eyes. Austin takes a deep breath.

"You do not _ever_ speak to my girlfriend like that, ever again." He hisses, knowing the paparazzi are going to have a field day with this one.

But as he walks inside with her, he honestly doesn't care. _Austin Moon Loves Girlfriend Fiercely_ isn't _that_ bad of a headline, anyways.

* * *

><p>Day 1. Part 2.<p>

Ally Dawson shows up at his post-show meet and greet and he smiles at her beside himself.

"Wow, you're even prettier up close."

Ally smiles. "I guess I could say the same to you?" She laughs, and he laughs with her.

They stare at each other awkwardly, with Ally's friend nudging her, silently telling her, "talk to him!"

Austin clears his throat. "So, um, did you have anything for me to sign or something or?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ally fishes a copy of his new debut album out of his purse. "To Ally."

"Yeah, I know." Austin chuckles and Ally blushes.

_**To Ally, the prettiest girl I've ever seen- I hope to see more of you sometime.  
>Coffee, maybe?<strong>_

x, Austin  
>p.s 305-555-5555 :-)<p>

* * *

><p>Day 4.<p>

On his last afternoon in Miami before going back to L.A, he meets up with her in a small cafe called _La Belle Vie. _

"You know," She starts. "I was kind of worried- actually, I was very worried- about this entire situation. Most of the time, you don't go to a concert and get flirted with, and you certainly don't get a celebrity's number. I was pretty sure it was a scam. I was very sure that if I called that number I would be connected to some local Chinese delivery place."

Austin laughs. "You really think I would do that?"

"I don't know! I don't know you! As I said, it's not exactly commonplace to get the number of a superstar."

Austin closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Okay, let's get one thing clear here- I'm not a superstar. Not now, not ever. Even if, by some miracle, I win like, ten Grammys in my lifetime- please don't ever call me a superstar. I'm just a guy, who happens to have a really cool job, and really likes a really cool girl." He smiles at her.

"Okay, fine." Ally agrees. "Not a superstar."

He watches her as she stirs two sugars and two creams into her tea. "But one question- why _did _you just, give me your number? I didn't ask for it. I'm not anyone important. I'm just a normal girl, and you're- you're you. What made you think I wouldn't just go and post it on the Internet?"

"_Did_ you go and post it on the Internet?"

Ally smiles sheepishly. "No, but in theory."

Austin bites into his biscotti. "I trusted you." He grins. "And I think I made the right decision. After all, why'd you agree to come to a cafe with some weird guy you hardly know?"

She smiles.

"I trusted you."

* * *

><p>Day 366.<p>

The day after their first anniversary, Ally moves into his townhouse.  
>After living for two entire semesters in the UCLA dorm rooms and two in University of Miami's before that, she was desperate to get out.<p>

"I don't know why we didn't do this earlier." Austin sighs, helping her carry the last of her boxes out of the truck and onto the hand-truck. Luckily, all she had was the stuff she'd brought to her dorm with her from Miami, which wasn't much. It was the dead of night, the only time he was sure that no paparazzi would be after them.

"Um, because we're twenty and the only reason my dad's letting me do this in the first place is because I'm a legal adult and he can't legally do anything to stop it?"

Austin laughs. "Okay, you have a point."

He sets her last box of clothes on the floor of his bedroom, which is littered in clothing items of his own and some dog hair.

He can see Ally's uncomfort with the mess and hurriedly tries to pick up his clothes and shove them in his hamper.

"Sorry about the mess, this is kind of the only room that I don't let Jeanette clean. I figure this is my crap, so my responsibility."

Ally smiles. "No, it's okay, it's not really that bad." She insists, but he still hears tension in her tone.

"I can clean it tomorrow if you want!" He exclaims. "Or right now, I mean, it's a little late, but if it'll make you feel better-"

She laughs and wraps her arms around him. "No, Austin, it's fine. Maybe I'll clean it up a little tomorrow, put my stuff away and everything, it'll give me something to do when you're at that Young Hollywood party.."

"You know I wanted you to come with me to that, right?"

She nods. "Of course I know. But you know me and parties just aren't a good mix." She laughs.

He nods.

He holds her close that night when they're in bed, the warmth of her vanilla-scented skin pressed against his own.

She's already asleep, but he pulls her even closer than him and presses a kiss to her hair.

"I'm so happy that you're here." He murmurs, and, subconsciously or not, she snuggles in closer to him, the top of her head laid against the crook of his neck.

* * *

><p>Day 390.<p>

"So, we hear that you and your lady, the lovely Miss Ally Dawson, are still going strong. Tell us about her!" The reporter exclaims. Austin notices that her teeth are a little too white to be real and that there's an orange line of makeup around her jawline.  
>He can't wait to get home to Ally.<p>

"Yeah, we are!" He says. His publicist is constantly telling him to _turn up the charm, be unnaturally charismatic- but make it seem natural!- _but the enthusiasm comes naturally when he's talking about Ally.

"We've been together for a little over a year, actually, and she just moved in with me about a month ago. She's great. I love her so much. She's so genuine, and kind, and brave, and beautiful- she always makes me want to be a better person, which I definitely need every so often. Probably more than that, actually!" He laughs. "No, but she's like the love of my life and my best friend, which is absolutely the greatest thing. I'm so lucky to have her."

The interviewer laughs. "You guys are so cute, I love how in love with her you always seem. So, it sounds like you guys are getting pretty serious- moving in together! Now, I know you guys are still young and all, but I have to ask- is there a wedding in the works anytime in the near future?"

Austin laughs. "Oh, haha, no, I don't know. Probably not in the near future, we're both really young, and still figuring ourselves and our lives out, I think she'd at least have to graduate from college before marriage is even like, at all on her mind. But for sure, I do see myself spending the rest of my life with her, yeah."

It's the most honest thing he's ever said in his entire life.

* * *

><p>Day 502.<p>

Ally is staring at him in panic, which is something you think he'd be used to by now, but he's not.  
>"Ally, this is going to be so good for me! I want you to be there with me! I <em>need <em>you to be there for me."

He'd told Jimmy that there was absolutely no way he was going to go on an eight-month international tour without her. To which Jimmy had replied "that is so stupid, you can't base your entire life and career around a girl", but he didn't care.

Austin grabs her hands, which are cold. "Don't you see? This has been my dream for my entire life, Alls. I want you to live it with me."

Ally's eyes fill with hot tears that spill out against her will as she rips her hands away from his. "I can't believe you. You can't even see how selfish you're being."

"What do you mean?" He asks, heart sinking inside his chest.

"You're not the only one with dreams, Austin. You know that I am here for you, constantly, completely, always, but I am a person, too, contrary to popular belief, outside of being _Austin Moon's girlfriend. _I mean, it's not playing Times Square on New Year's Eve or travelling to a billion different places in the span of a year, but what I'm doing is important, too."

"I didn't say that what you do isn't important! Being a teacher is _way _more important than being a singer, but I'm not asking you to give up on that! I'm just asking that you postpone college for a semester or two to be with me. It'll be amazing, Alls, we'll travel the entire world together and meet hundreds of people and-"

Ally groans. "Do you not even hear yourself? Be on a tour bus for eight months, be far away from home, meet hundred and thousands of people- that's all great, for _you!_ Not for me! Those are all, like, my biggest fears. I love you more than I have ever loved anything else, but I have to take care of myself, too, you know."

"What do you want me to do?" Austin begs, his voice cracking. It doesn't matter- it's never mattered- that he's a celebrity and she's a quote-unquote "normal girl",

She places her cold hand to his face and rubs the pad of her thumb over his cheek.

"I want you to go."

* * *

><p>Day 530.<p>

Things are different when she's not around.

* * *

><p>Day 30.<p>

"I don't think I understand."

Ally smiles. Her face is dimly lit from the nightlights in her and Trish's dorm room, but her smile is still illuminating.

"I don't think I do, either. It's just- I don't know, it got worse when my mom left, but it started even before that. I've probably always been like this. Claustrophobic, anxious and panicked."

She looks down and then back up at his face glowing on the screen. "I understand if I just scared you away from wanting to be with me anymore. It happens a lot. That's why I try, um, I try not to get attached to people."

Austin stares at her, looking at every detail, absorbing it all. He doesn't see how any of this, anything at all, could make her any less important to him.

"You keep looking at yourself like you're not beautiful. Stop that."

When Ally lifts her head, he can see that she's crying. "I'm sorry."

"Ally, will you stop apologizing? You don't have anything to be sorry about."

"I'm sorry." Ally says, before she starts laughing.

He can't fix her- she's not broken. And he can't protect her. She's two-thousand miles away.

She's looking at him with bleary eyes. "I know what you're thinking. Stop trying to protect me. I can take care of myself."

"I'm not saying you can't. I'm just- I worry about you, Ally. I don't want to- I don't mean to, I just do. Because I'm kind of…" He trails off.

"I'm kind of in love with you." He grins sheepishly. He's done a lot of terrifying things in his life- auditions, performing in front of huge crowds- but that was the single most intimidating thing he's ever done.  
>But it's also something he is incredibly sure of, and he wasn't going to waste time not telling her.<p>

She smiles and laughs, but she doesn't say it back. She looks like she wants to, but doesn't.

It doesn't matter though. She's here, and she's real, and he is in love with her. It's enough for him.

* * *

><p>Day 775.<p>

"I'm really sorry I have to miss your graduation." He apologizes.

"It's fine, Austin, I know you'll be there supporting me no matter what. In spirit, anyways." She looks crushed, which hurts his heart.

He grins at her. "You know I still love you, right."

"Bigger than anything."

"Bigger than everything."

Trish groans in the background. "You guys are absolutely disgusting." She gags, but it's an affectionate display of disgust.

Austin chuckles. "Hey, Trish."

"Don't talk to me."

Trish is whisking around their house, trying to help Ally pick out her graduation outfit, but it's really more of tugging everything Ally owns off of hangers and onto the carpet. He knows it must be freaking Ally out, but she doesn't say anything.

"How about this?" Trish says. "I can't believe you own this, Ally, I never thought you had it in you!"

The way Ally pales indicates that it's the silver, sparkly dress that barely covers anything that Ally refused to acknowledge the existence of. . His stylist had bought it for her when he'd featured her in one of his music videos, but she'd always been too embarrassed to actually wear it.

"Absolutely not, oh my God!" Ally exclaims. Austin laughs. "I'd better let you go."

Ally nods. "I'll see you soon!"

"Two days, baby!"

She smiles and closes the computer.

"Ally?" Someone calls. A sophomore RA walks up to Ally and hands her a bouquet of flowers. "These just came for you."

"Oh, wow!" Ally exclaims. "These are beautiful. Thank you!"

_**Ally,**_

I am so, so proud of you. Wish I could be there- can't wait to see you!

x, Austin

The minutes are ticking down until her name is called, she figures, considering they're already up to Caitlyn Dallas.

Her mom and her dad and Trish are all waiting out in the crowd, smiling and waiting for her. She loves them, and is so sublimely happy that they're there, especially her mom, whom she hadn't seen since her high school graduation, but she can't help staring at the (symbolically) empty chair next to them where Austin belonged.

Jason Davis is called, and she's the next in line. She's standing by the steps, waiting to run on stage and get her diploma, but the ceremony pauses. The principal places her microphone back on the stand and walks off the stage.

_Oh my God, _Ally panics internally. _Am I not graduating? Did I fail one of my classes? Did I do something wrong._

The vice-principal walks up to the mic and smiles at Ally. "It seems our next guest has a very special visitor. We don't usually do this, but we figured we could make an exception this time."

She cannot walk. She cannot breathe. What did they mean?

Austin Monica Moon runs onto the stage to thunderous applause. Flashbulbs are going off again, but for once, neither of them care at all.

Austin takes the mic and looks over at his girlfriend.

"This next graduate, if you didn't already know, has a very special place in my heart. Although she probably hates me now for scaring her like this, I wasn't supposed to be back home until tomorrow."

The audience looks over at Ally's shocked expression and laughs good-naturedly.

"I've known Ally Dawson for two years and about a month, and they have been the absolute best two years of my life. Of course, lots of great, amazing things have happened to me in my time here on this Earth, but out of everything, she is the thing I am most grateful for. You could strip away everything else I have and I would be entirely happy if I had her."

The crowd aws.

"I remember once, someone asked me if it was hard to be in love with her because I'm a celebrity or whatever and she's not. It's not. It has never been hard to be in love with her. It's the thing I'm best at, actually. Because I don't care who I am, or who everyone else thinks I am, at least, she is always going to be so much better than me. So much smarter, so much more talented, so much stronger, so much kinder. I am constantly, constantly in awe of her."

He fumbles around for something in his pocket.

"I am always learning new things about her, and learning new things about myself because of her, and I never want that to go away. I want that for the rest of my life."

Ally's looking at him in wonder.

"Ally? Will you come join me on stage, please?"

She takes wobbly steps towards him, shaking violently.

He takes her hand and presses a cold, metallic object into it. "I figure I'm really going to embarrass you if I get down on one knee, so I won't. But, Ally Dawson, will you marry me?"

The crowd is screaming at this point, drowning them out.

She kisses him unabashedly, not caring who was taking their picture or who was watching or what anyone else thought.

"So I'll take that as a yes?" He grins. She nods.

"Oh, wait!" Austin exclaims, rushing back to the microphone. "Crap! I'm screwing this up. Also, Ally Dawson! Here's your diploma!"

* * *

><p>Day 1. (Of forever.)<br>They're jumping on the bed of their Paris hotel room at ten A.M on the morning after their wedding.

"You're the best decision I've ever made." He smiles.

Ally doesn't even hear him, being too preoccupied with jumping on the bed. "Whee!" She exclaims.

Things are better when she's around.

* * *

><p><strong>AN OKAY I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS TOOK ME SO LONG TO WRITE I THINK I FORGOT HOW TO WRITE A THING I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY THIS IS TERRIBLY CLICHE BUT YOU KNOW WHAT MAYBE WE ALL NEED A LIL CLICHE-NESS IN OUR LIVES SOMETIMES :')**

anyways sophie i know it's probably getting closer to being not your birthday in england but i hope you had a fantastic day and i hope all of you reading this enjoyed it and had a great day yourselves, whether it be your birthday or not :D

-Tessa :)


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